The Spirit of Ten commandments

 

Welcome to the new Series-The Spirit of Ten commandments

 

An Introduction to the Commandments. 

 

Ten Commandments is one of the keys for a strong foundation for Christian life and a Highway to Heaven.

 

The introduction to the commandments given here is not primarily of a historical one nor a theological base. It is rather a spiritually oriented deliberation and how God intended to help souls walk on the right and righteous path amidst the chaos of the world. 

In the beginning, when the world was in chaos, God used His WORD to settle and subdue the chaos and brought about orderliness. In the same way, God wanted man to use the Commandments that is, His Word to clear up all the chaos by practising it and create an orderly society of love. The kingdom of God is nothing but the orderly society of love where love gushes out from everyone and returns to its source that is God himself.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy spirit, because anyone who served Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. ~ Romans 14:17-18.

 

So, how did these commandments come into existence? God, out of love for the Israelite His chosen people and chosen nation, carved out Love-Commandments from His core being or His heart, as a guideline so that they are always His chosen people. Thus, the Ten Commandments are carved out from the heart of God and for His loved ones for the very purpose of pleasing God all the time. 

 

The Spirit of the Ten Commandments is love. Jesus succinctly capsuled it in two phrases: Love your God and love your neighbour.

He preached love and forgiveness. Forgiveness is an offshoot of love. He inhaled love and exhaled love. For Him everything is love. He lived out a love-life and died on the cross to demonstrate God’s absolute love. Every action He performed displayed God’s love for humanity. Therefore, Jesus had only one commandment i.e. LOVE. For Him the Spirit of God is love. Hence, the spirit of the Commandments is love.

 

Exodus 31:18 says, “When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.”' Finger of God' here means the Hand of God. God’s love gushed out from His heart through the finger and inscribed the tablets of stone. The Ten Commandments indicates from the above verse that these came from God himself and not from any human. 

 

In Hebrew original text the phrase “the finger of God” is being used thrice to indicate that God is in total control over the situation.

1. When Moses performed miracle after miracle in front of Pharaoh, the magicians in the court acknowledged that the finger of God was doing all these things.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats throughout the whole land of Egypt.'" And they did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and gnats came on humans and animals alike; all the dust of the earth turned into gnats throughout the whole land of Egypt. The magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, but they could not. There were gnats on both humans and animals. And the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God!" Exodus 8:16–20 The magicians accepted that God was in control of the situation and they were unable to outwit or outperform God’s challenge.

 

2. The second time the phrase "finger of God" appears is at Ex 31:18 "And he gave unto Moses when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God."

 

3. The third time the phrase appears, and the last time in the Hebrew Bible, is a second reference to the tablets of the Ten Commandments and is found in Deuteronomy 9:10, which says "And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God

 

4. The phrase is also used by Jesus in the Christian New Testament, during his proof that he did not cast out demons by the power of Beelzebub. He said, "But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you.”

From the above verses, we can easily understand the Ten Commandments came from God and written by the Finger of God. Commandment means orders, literally one must obey it.

 

When Moses the great prophet and the leader received the Commandments from the hand of the Lord, I am sure, he was more than happy as it would have helped him govern the Israelites and led them to the Promised Land. But over the period of time, Moses expanded the commandments to further 613. The Ten Commandments though remained as the base and source for all the law, it was expanded with more legal codes as and when the problems arose among the Israelites. And the Spirit of the commandment diminished gradually over a period.

A legal code like "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, which did not reflect the true spirit of the Ten Commandments crept into the Torah and the Judean system. This indicated that Moses did not imbibe the Spirit of the Commandments while expanding the code of law. Even if he did so, he failed to communicate the Spirit of the Law to the Israelites. 

Mostly people instead of practising and celebrating the spirit of the Law, resigned to the face-value of the law, thereby suffocated and strangled the Spirit of the Commandments. 

 

Even today, we do not understand the Spirit of the Commandments, therefore we are unable to celebrate the law of love that is carved out from the heart of God. Let us surrender ourselves to the feet of Jesus and ask for Wisdom to understand, comprehend and imbibe the Spirit of Love for a Better World.